DOCSLIB.ORG

Race Relations in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Eric Williams

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Race Relations in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Eric Williams Howard University Digital Howard @ Howard University History Department Faculty Publications Department of History 1-1-1945 Race Relations in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Eric Williams Follow this and additional works at: http://dh.howard.edu/hist_fac Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons Recommended Citation Williams, Eric, "Race Relations in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands" (1945). History Department Faculty Publications. Paper 23. http://dh.howard.edu/hist_fac/23 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at Digital Howard @ Howard University. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Department Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Digital Howard @ Howard University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. RACE RELATIONS IN PUERTO RICO AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS By Eric Williams HE islands of the Caribbean differ in size, political affilia­ tion, religious beliefs and language; but the basic difference T is ethnic. Racially, the Caribbean falls into two distinct groups: the territories with a comparatively large white popula­ tion, and the territories with a predominantly black or colored population. In the 1940 United States census, the population of Puerto Rico was given as 76.55 percent white; the corresponding figure for the Virgin Islands was 9 percent. There are further divergen­ cies within the Virgin Islands group. Only 3.2 percent of the population of the island of St. Croix was given as white, as com­ pared with 15.8 percent for the island of St. Thomas. Charlotte Amalie, the chief city of St. Thomas, had a white population of 12.1 percent; the two chief cities of St. Croix had white popula­ tions of 2.2 and 4.3 percent respectively. This ethnic difference is the consequence of the particular economy developed in the various regions. Where the plantation economy based on sugar predominated, Negro slavery was essential and the territory au­ tomatically became black. The Virgin Islands fell in this cate­ gory, together with Haiti and the British, French and Nether­ lands possessions. Where the small farmer survived, in a coffee or tobacco or livestock economy, white labor was predominant. Puerto Rico, Cuba and, to a lesser extent, the Dominican Repub­ lic were in this group. The Negro made his appearance in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands as a chattel slave. But if Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have a common heritage of slavery, their economic de­ velopment during the slavery period took divergent lines. Puerto Rico was always a white colony, a garrison rather than a planta­ tion. The proportion of Negro slaves in Puerto Rico was never as high as elsewhere in the Caribbean, and never exceeded 14 per­ cent of the population. Puerto Rico had a self-sufficient economy and its labor needs were satisfied by free men. Many of these free laborers were black or colored, but only for a brief period in the island’s history did the non-white population exceed 50 percent of the total. The Virgin Islands, on the other hand, had plantation economies exporting sugar. St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands be­ 4 FOREIGN AFFAIRS came a free port rather than a sugar colony, however; hence its smaller Negro population. An ethnic map of the Caribbean would align Puerto Rico with the Spanish-speaking areas, and would group the Virgin Islands with Haiti and the European posses­ sions, not because Puerto Rico was under Spanish rule and the Virgin Islands Danish, but because of their differing economies. The plantation economy was notoriously harsher on the slave. It is no accident, therefore, that while slave rebellions were not unknown in Puerto Rico, those islands never experienced the convulsions that destroyed St. John in 1733, St. Croix in 1848, repeatedly visited the British islands, made Haiti independent, and produced revolts in Cuba in 1812 and again in 1843. It is an astonishing fact that in Puerto Rico slaveowners themselves petitioned for emancipation, against the wishes of the mother country. Emancipation in the Virgin Islands was a metropolitan measure introduced in the teeth of opposition from the local planters. Conditions for the integration of the Negro, after eman­ cipation, were more favorable in Puerto Rico than in any other Caribbean territory except the Dominican Republic. But Span­ ish and Danish policies were in accord in one respect. In both territories the freeing of slaves was a relatively easy matter, and the numbers of free mulattoes and Negroes were larger than in many other Caribbean islands. Spanish legislation facilitated manumissions, and there was less excuse for denying freedom to slaves in Puerto Rico’s coffee and subsistence economy than in the sugar economy of Cuba, with its slave gang. These free people of color were usually, but not exclusively, light-skinned. Offspring of white fathers and black mothers, they were generally treated with indulgence by their fathers, often educated, and customarily left some property on the death of the father. In a society in which life, liberty and the pursuit of happi­ ness were the inalienable rights of a white skin, it was inevitable that they despised the distaff-side of their ancestry. Too light to work in the fields, as the saying went, they regarded themselves as superior to the black slaves. Official policy sanctioned this differ­ entiation. Six years before the Declaration of Independence the governor of Puerto Rico decreed the admission of white and mulatto children to the public schools “ without distinction.” The Danes divided the colored people into two classes. Those in the first category were made first-class citizens, with full rights, privileges and duties. They were placed on an equal footing with whites and were in every case to be treated as whites; in traveling PUERTO RICO AND THE VIRGIN ISLANDS 5 abroad, for example, they were not to be designated as “ free colored” but as “ Mr. So-and-So.” Colored people in the second division remained second-class citizens, and the governor was empowered to “ transfer” a citizen from one race to another. While this plan of changing racial status by decree was never carried out, it suggests the way in which the free people of color formed a flexible caste that served as a convenient buffer between whites and blacks. As the saying goes in Puerto Rico, the colored people were “ the ham in the sandwich.” Thus, in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, when the sun of emancipation banished the last lingering shadows of a slavery that had been becoming increasingly unprofitable, certain charac­ teristics of the new social order had already been established. Interbreeding, which relaxed the tensions of servitude, had taken place on a large scale. Moreover, the Negroes had shown them­ selves to be good Puerto Ricans. The schoolmaster Rafael Cor­ dero, for example, taught children for 58 years without charging fees, thereby earning the approbation of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country. The shoemaker Miguel Enriquez was decorated by Philip V for bravery in battle against the Dutch and English and elevated to the rank of knight; in Spanish eyes he became so identified with Puerto Rico that a book published in Madrid described Puerto Rico itself as “ the fatherland of Miguel Enriquez.” Under the Danes, prominent colored people received invitations to official functions to which many whites were not invited. Thus was established the Caribbean tra­ dition of race relations. Emphasis was on color, not race; and color was closely associated with class, and even determined by class. In Puerto Rico today a population of close to two million peo­ ple is crowded on a small island of slightly more than two million acres, less than half of which are arable. The population has doubled twice in the last century and is increasing at a net rate of 30,000 a year. The chief means of subsistence is the land, and the principal crop sugar. The sugar industry accounts for 60 per­ cent of the total export trade, occupies 40 percent of all farm lands, employs 40 percent of the working population, and ac­ counts for 90 percent of the freight hauled by the public railways. The industry achieved this supremacy by reason of tariff protec­ tion in the United States market, and without this tariff protec­ tion the crop would be almost eliminated. Its further expansion is prohibited by the quota system. Sugar has brought to the is­ 6 FOREIGN AFFAIRS land a phenomenal increase in wealth, but the average Puerto Rican is today a landless wage earner, ill-fed, ill-housed and ill- clothed, living on an income of $341 a year. Puerto Rico today has a subsidized economy. Federal contributions, direct and in­ direct, amounted to $57,000,000 in 1942, or approximately $30 per capita. In the Virgin Islands a population of 25,000 people live on 85,000 acres, of which less than one-sixth is crop land. With 11,600 acres of cropland and 8,000 acres in cultivation, St. Croix, the agricultural center of the group, supports a population of nearly 13,000. Y et the population has declined by more than 50 percent in the last century; the decline in St. John is more than 70 percent, while for the group as a whole it is more than 40 percent. Large-scale emigration represented an unconscious effort to achieve some equilibrium between population and means of subsistence. In spite of such emigration, the Administrator of St. Croix estimates that the present population of that island is 25 percent greater than the island can support. The National Resources Planning Board is even more pessimistic. In its “ De­ velopment Plan for the Virgin Islands,” the Board frankly con­ fesses its inability to see a way of providing for more than 60 percent of the population of the area.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • District of Columbia Statehood and Voting Representation
    Updated June 29, 2020 District of Columbia Statehood and Voting Representation On June 26, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives have included full statehood or more limited methods of considered and passed the Washington, D.C. Admission providing DC residents the ability to vote in congressional Act, H.R. 51. This marked the first time in 27 years a elections. Some Members of Congress have opposed these District of Columbia (DC) statehood bill was considered on legislative efforts and recommended maintaining the status the floor of the House of Representatives, and the first time quo. Past legislative proposals have generally aligned with in the history of Congress a DC statehood bill was passed one of the following five options: by either the House or the Senate. 1. a constitutional amendment to give DC residents voting representation in This In Focus discusses the political status of DC, identifies Congress; concerns regarding DC representation, describes selected issues in the statehood process, and outlines some recent 2. retrocession of the District of Columbia DC statehood or voting representation bills. It does not to Maryland; provide legal or constitutional analysis on DC statehood or 3. semi-retrocession (i.e., allowing qualified voting representation. It does not address territorial DC residents to vote in Maryland in statehood issues. For information and analysis on these and federal elections for the Maryland other issues, please refer to the CRS products listed in the congressional delegation to the House and final section. Senate); 4. statehood for the District of Columbia; District of Columbia and When ratified in 1788, the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Environmental Assessment for the Replacement of the Pier and Boat Ramp at the U.S
    Draft Environmental Assessment for the Repairs and Replacement of the Boat Ramp and Pier at the US Border Patrol Air and Marine Facility, Ponce, Puerto Rico Environmental Assessment for the Replacement of the Pier and Boat Ramp at the U.S. Border Patrol & Air and Marine Facility, Ponce, Puerto Rico U.S. Customs and Border Protection February 2019 Draft Environmental Assessment for the Repairs and Replacement of the Boat Ramp and Pier at the US Border Patrol Air and Marine Facility, Ponce, Puerto Rico Environmental Assessment for the Replacement of the Pier and Boat Ramp at the U.S. Border Patrol & Air and Marine Facility, Ponce, Puerto Rico Environmental Assessment for the Replacement of the Pier and Boat Ramp at the U.S. Border Patrol & Air and Marine Facility, Ponce, Puerto Rico Lead Agency: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Proposed Action: The demolition and removal of the temporary structure, removal of the original pier, construction of a new pier, and replacement of the boat ramp at 41 Bonaire Street in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The replacement boat ramp would be constructed in the same location as the existing boat ramp, and the pier would be constructed south of the Ponce Marine Unit facility. For Further Information: Joseph Zidron Real Estate and Environmental Branch Chief Border Patrol & Air and Marine Program Management Office 24000 Avila Road, Suite 5020 Laguna Niguel, CA 92677 [email protected] Date: February 2019 Abstract: CBP proposes to remove the original concrete pier, demolish and remove the temporary structure, construct a new pier, replace the existing boat ramp, and continue operation and maintenance at its Ponce Marine Unit facility at 41 Bonaire Street, Ponce, Puerto Rico.
    [Show full text]
  • White by Law---Haney Lopez (Abridged Version)
    White by Law The Legal Construction of Race Revised and Updated 10th Anniversary Edition Ian Haney Lόpez NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London (2006) 1│White Lines In its first words on the subject of citizenship, Congress in 1790 restricted naturalization to “white persons.” Though the requirements for naturalization changed frequently thereafter, this racial prerequisite to citizenship endured for over a century and a half, remaining in force until 1952. From the earliest years of this country until just a generation ago, being a “white person” was a condition for acquiring citizenship. Whether one was “white” however, was often no easy question. As immigration reached record highs at the turn of this century, countless people found themselves arguing their racial identity in order to naturalize. From 1907, when the federal government began collecting data on naturalization, until 1920, over one million people gained citizenship under the racially restrictive naturalization laws. Many more sought to naturalize and were rejected. Naturalization rarely involved formal court proceedings and therefore usually generated few if any written records beyond the simple decision. However, a number of cases construing the “white person” prerequisite reached the highest state and federal judicial circles, and two were argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the early 1920s. These cases produced illuminating published decisions that document the efforts of would-be citizens from around the world to establish their Whiteness at law. Applicants from Hawaii, China, Japan, Burma, and the Philippines, as well as all mixed- race applicants, failed in their arguments. Conversely, courts ruled that applicants from Mexico and Armenia were “white,” but vacillated over the Whiteness of petitioners from Syria, India, and Arabia.
    [Show full text]
  • Questioning Whiteness: “Who Is White?”
    人間生活文化研究 Int J Hum Cult Stud. No. 29 2019 Questioning Whiteness: “Who is white?” ―A case study of Barbados and Trinidad― Michiru Ito1 1International Center, Otsuma Women’s University 12 Sanban-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan 102-8357 Key words：Whiteness, Caribbean, Barbados, Trinidad, Oral history Abstract This paper seeks to produce knowledge of identity as European-descended white in the Caribbean islands of Barbados and Trinidad, where the white populations account for 2.7% and 0.7% respectively, of the total population. Face-to-face individual interviews were conducted with 29 participants who are subjectively and objectively white, in August 2016 and February 2017 in order to obtain primary data, as a means of creating oral history. Many of the whites in Barbados recognise their interracial family background, and possess no reluctance for having interracial marriage and interracial children. They have very weak attachment to white hegemony. On contrary, white Trinidadians insist on their racial purity as white and show their disagreement towards interracial marriage and interracial children. The younger generations in both islands say white supremacy does not work anymore, yet admit they take advantage of whiteness in everyday life. The elder generation in Barbados say being white is somewhat disadvantageous, but their Trinidadian counterparts are very proud of being white which is superior form of racial identity. The paper revealed the sense of colonial superiority is rooted in the minds of whites in Barbados and Trinidad, yet the younger generations in both islands tend to deny the existence of white privilege and racism in order to assimilate into the majority of the society, which is non-white.
    [Show full text]
  • Ruling America's Colonies: the Insular Cases Juan R
    YALE LAW & POLICY REVIEW Ruling America's Colonies: The Insular Cases Juan R. Torruella* INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 58 I. THE HISTORICAL BACKDROP TO THE INSULAR CASES..................................-59 11. THE INSULAR CASES ARE DECIDED ......................................... 65 III. LIFE AFTER THE INSULAR CASES.......................... .................. 74 A. Colonialism 1o ......................................................... 74 B. The Grinding Stone Keeps Grinding........... ....... ......................... 74 C. The Jones Act of 1917, U.S. Citizenship, and President Taft ................. 75 D. The Jones Act of 1917, U.S. Citizenship, and ChiefJustice Taft ............ 77 E. Local Self-Government v. Colonial Status...........................79 IV. WHY THE UNITED STATES-PUERTO Rico RELATIONSHIP IS COLONIAL...... 81 A. The PoliticalManifestations of Puerto Rico's Colonial Relationship.......82 B. The Economic Manifestationsof Puerto Rico's ColonialRelationship.....82 C. The Cultural Manifestationsof Puerto Rico's Colonial Relationship.......89 V. THE COLONIAL STATUS OF PUERTO Rico Is UNAUTHORIZED BY THE CONSTITUTION AND CONTRAVENES THE LAW OF THE LAND AS MANIFESTED IN BINDING TREATIES ENTERED INTO BY THE UNITED STATES ............................................................. 92 CONCLUSION .................................................................... 94 * Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. The substance of this Article was presented in
    [Show full text]
  • Testimony Medicaid and CHIP in the U.S. Territories
    Statement of Anne L. Schwartz, PhD Executive Director Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission Before the Health Subcommittee Committee on Energy and Commerce U.S. House of Representatives March 17, 2021 i Summary Medicaid and CHIP play a vital role in providing access to health services for low-income individuals in the five U.S. territories: American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The territories face similar issues to those in the states: populations with significant health care needs, an insufficient number of providers, and constraints on local resources. With some exceptions, they operate under similar federal rules and are subject to oversight by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. However, the financing structure for Medicaid in the territories differs from state programs in two key respects. First, territorial Medicaid programs are constrained by an annual ceiling on federal financial participation, referred to as the Section 1108 cap or allotment (§1108(g) of the Social Security Act). Territories receive a set amount of federal funding each year regardless of changes in enrollment and use of services. In comparison, states receive federal matching funds for each state dollar spent with no cap. Second, the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) is statutorily set at 55 percent rather than being based on per capita income. If it were set using the state formula, the matching rate for all five territories would be significantly higher, and for most, would likely be the maximum of 83 percent. These two policies have resulted in chronic underfunding of Medicaid in the territories, requiring Congress to step in at multiple points to provide additional resources.
    [Show full text]
  • Excavations at Maruca, a Preceramic Site in Southern Puerto Rico
    EXCAVATIONS AT MARUCA, A PRECERAMIC SITE IN SOUTHERN PUERTO RICO Miguel Rodríguez ABSTRACT A recent set of radiocarbon dated shows that the Maruca site, a preceramic site located in the southern coastal plains of Puerto Rico, was inhabited between 5,000 and 3,000 B.P. bearing the earliest dates for human habitation in Puerto Rico. Also the discovery in the site of possible postmolds, lithic and shell workshop areas and at least eleven human burials strongly indicate the possibility of a permanent habitation site. RESUME Recientes fechados indican una antigüedad entre 5,000 a 3000 años antes de del presente para Maruca, una comunidad Arcaica en la costa sur de Puerto Rico. Estos son al momento los fechados más antiguos para la vida humana en Puerto Rico. El descubrimiento de socos, de posible talleres líticos, de áreas procesamiento de moluscos y por lo menos once (11) enterramientos humanos sugieren la posibilidad de que Maruca sea un lugar habitation con cierta permanence. KEY WORDS: Human Remains, Marjuca Site, Preceramic Workshop. INTRODUCTION During the 1980s archaeological research in Puerto Rico focused on long term multidisciplinary projects in early ceramic sites such as Sorcé/La Hueca, Maisabel and Punta Candelera. This research significantly expanded our knowledge of the life ways and adaptive strategies of Cedrosan and Huecan Saladoid cultures. Although the interest in these early ceramic cultures has not declined, it seems that during the 1990s, archaeological research began to develop other areas of interest. With the discovery of new preceramic sites of the Archaic age found during construction projects, the attention of specialists has again been focused on the first in habitants of Puerto Rico.
    [Show full text]
  • Puerto Rico, Colonialism In
    University at Albany, State University of New York Scholars Archive Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Faculty Scholarship Studies 2005 Puerto Rico, Colonialism In Pedro Caban University at Albany, State Univeristy of New York, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/lacs_fac_scholar Part of the Latin American Studies Commons Recommended Citation Caban, Pedro, "Puerto Rico, Colonialism In" (2005). Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Faculty Scholarship. 19. https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/lacs_fac_scholar/19 This Encyclopedia Entry is brought to you for free and open access by the Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies at Scholars Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Faculty Scholarship by an authorized administrator of Scholars Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 516 PUERTO RICO, COLONIALISM IN PUERTO RICO, COLONIALISM IN. Puerto Rico They automatically became subjects of the United States has been a colonial possession of the United States since without any constitutionally protected rights. Despite the 1898. What makes Puerto Rico a colony? The simple an­ humiliation of being denied any involvement in fateful swer is that its people lack sovereignty and are denied the decisions in Paris, most Puerto Ricans welcomed U.S. fundamental right to freely govern themselves. The U.S. sovereignty, believing that under the presumed enlight­ Congress exercises unrestricted and unilateral powers over ened tutelage of the United States their long history of Puerto Rico, although the residents of Puerto Rico do not colonial rule would soon come to an end.
    [Show full text]
  • Hunger and Poverty in Puerto Rico
    FACT SHEET MARCH 2019 Hunger and Poverty in Puerto Rico What’s the Problem? Even before Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, hunger and food insecurity were much more common among Puerto Ricans than among their fellow U.S. citizens in the 50 states. Before the hurricanes, 1.5 million Puerto Ricans were food insecure. The child food insecurity rate was 56 percent—nearly triple the average for the rest of the United States.1 Hurricane Maria was a Category 4 hurricane that caused extensive destruction. As of October 10, 2017, the Federal Emergency Management Agency estimated that only 15 per- cent of the island’s electricity had been restored2—leaving 85 percent of the island without electricity. The island was finally able to restore power for every resident in August 2018.3 For one year, families had limited opportunities of earning money for their basic needs such as food, water, and shelter—let alone the additional resources needed to rebuild their homes, farms, and businesses. This contributed to the majority of the island experiencing food insecurity right after the hurricanes. Unfortunately, the island still faces ongoing challenges to help residents overcome hunger. Recovery has been slow, in part, because assistance from FEMA to repair bridges and roads, clean debris, and rebuild homes has been difficult for some parts of the island, and for every resident, to access. Various iStock photo 5 PUERTO RICANS ARE FAR MORE LIKELY TO BE FOOD INSECURE barriers contribute to this, including residents not having U.S. Puerto Rico Rate Puerto Rico Rate the records or deeds for their homes.4 Rate (October 2017) (Today) Before the Hurricanes 11.8% 30-60%* N/A The Background After the Hurricanes 11.8% At least 85%** 38.3%*** In 1898, Puerto Rico became a permanent U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • EXPLAINING WHITE PRIVILEGE to a BROKE WHITE PERSON... Gina Crosley-Corcoran
    EXPLAINING WHITE PRIVILEGE TO A BROKE WHITE PERSON... Gina Crosley-Corcoran Years ago, some feminist on the internet told me I was "Privileged." "WTH?!?" I said. I came from the kind of Poor that people don't want to believe still exists in this country. Have you ever spent a frigid northern Illinois winter without heat or running water? I have. At twelve years old, were you making ramen noodles in a coffee maker with water you fetched from a public bathroom? I was. Have you ever lived in a camper year round and used a random relative's apartment as your mailing address? We did. Did you attend so many different elementary schools that you can only remember a quarter of their names? Welcome to my childhood. So when that feminist told me I had "white privilege," I told her that my white skin didn't do shit to prevent me from experiencing poverty. Then, like any good, educated feminist would, she directed me to Peggy McIntosh's 1988 now-famous piece, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." After one reads McIntosh's powerful essay, it's impossible to deny that being born with white skin in America affords people certain unearned privileges in life that people of another skin color simple are not afforded. For example: "I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented." "When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is." "If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race." "I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time." If you read through the rest of the list, you can see how white people and people of color experience the world in two very different ways.
    [Show full text]
  • The Status of Puerto Rico Revisited: Does the Current U.S.-Puerto Rico Relationship Uphold International Law?
    Fordham International Law Journal Volume 17, Issue 4 1993 Article 5 The Status of Puerto Rico Revisited: Does the Current U.S.-Puerto Rico Relationship Uphold International Law? Dorian A. Shaw∗ ∗ Copyright c 1993 by the authors. Fordham International Law Journal is produced by The Berke- ley Electronic Press (bepress). http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj The Status of Puerto Rico Revisited: Does the Current U.S.-Puerto Rico Relationship Uphold International Law? Dorian A. Shaw Abstract This Note argues that the establishment of the Commonwealth government fails to fulfill the requirements of a free associated territory as detailed in United Nations General Assembly Resolu- tions 742 (“Resolution 742”) and 1541 (“Resolution 1541”) because the Puerto Rico Constitution remains subject to the Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Territorial Clause gives the U.S. Congress plenary authority to govern territories of the United States. Part I of this Note introduces the factual and legal background of Puerto Rico’s hybrid legal status. Part II describes the different interpretations regarding the validity of Puerto Rico’s status in international law. Part III argues that the present status of Puerto Rico requires that the U.S. Congress enact legislation that allows a binding plebiscite to define the status of Puerto Rico in a manner consistent with U.N. General Assembly Resolutions 742 and 1541. Finally, this Note concludes that the U.S. Congress should act to prevent the continuation of a system of government where unequal treatment of U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico is allowed under the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • PUERTO RICO Information on How Statehood Would Potentially Affect Selected Federal Programs and Revenue Sources
    United States Government Accountability Office Report to Congressional Requesters March 2014 PUERTO RICO Information on How Statehood Would Potentially Affect Selected Federal Programs and Revenue Sources GAO-14-31 March 2014 PUERTO RICO Information on How Statehood Would P otentially Affect S elected Federal Programs and Revenue Highlights of GAO-14-31, a report to Sources congressional requesters Why GAO Did This Study What GAO Found Puerto Rico has access to many Of the 29 federal programs GAO reviewed (which accounted for about 86 federal programs, and is subject to percent of federal program spending for states or their residents in fiscal year certain federal tax laws; however, for 2010), statehood would likely affect 11 programs. For 3 other programs, while some programs and for some aspects the programs themselves would likely not change under statehood, eligibility of tax law, Puerto Rico is treated determinations for these programs could be affected indirectly by changes that differently than the states. Options for could occur to benefits in other programs. Statehood would not likely affect the Puerto Rico’s political status include 15 remaining programs. See figure below. statehood. GAO was asked to review potential fiscal implications for federal programs if Puerto Rico were to become a state. This report examines potential changes to selected federal programs and related spending changes, and changes to selected federal revenue sources that would be expected should Puerto Rico become a state. This report also discusses economic and fiscal factors under statehood that could influence changes in spending and revenues. To evaluate potential changes to selected federal programs and revenue sources, GAO reviewed federal laws and regulations and interviewed federal and Puerto Rico agency officials.
    [Show full text]